Speaker 1: Hey, this is Brian Alvarez and this is today's edition
Speaker 1: of the Wrestling Observer Daily podcast on the eight Side Network.
Speaker 2: When you're ready, let's get it all.
Speaker 1: How's it going, everybody. Brian Alvarez here on Wrestling Observer Live.
Speaker 1: We are here every day Monday through Friday, New Pacific,
Speaker 1: three Eastern Sunday, three Pacific, sixth Eastern Friday. Here in
Speaker 1: the show. You know what that means. We had a
Speaker 1: lot to talk about here today, not the least of
Speaker 1: which SmackDown tonight. Bad Bunny is on SmackDown, which airs
Speaker 1: tonight from Puerto Rico. The WWE pay per view is tomorrow.
Speaker 1: We'll go over the full lineup for the show later
Speaker 1: on in the program. Today a lot of matches announced
Speaker 1: for the show, and yeah, we'll give you the lineup
Speaker 1: for SmackDown as well. Mince McMahon. Following a payment to WWE,
Speaker 1: one of the lawsuits against the company has been dropped
Speaker 1: zipically a lawsuit against the executive at chairman. We'll tell
Speaker 1: you what he did to get that thing dropped. Three guesses.
Speaker 1: We've got updates on aw all in in Wembley. We
Speaker 1: actually don't have an update after the last couple of hours,
Speaker 1: but as of yesterday, fifty thousand tickets six point five
Speaker 1: million dollars and the official on sale date is today,
Speaker 1: so we'll try to get some updates there. But it's
Speaker 1: looking it's looking big. I'm talking really big, and we
Speaker 1: still have months and months left until the show actually
Speaker 1: takes place and no matches have been announced. The vast majority,
Speaker 1: I'm sure will be sold by the end of this weekend,
Speaker 1: but you never know what'll happen is we get closer
Speaker 1: and we'll see how everything starts to heat up with
Speaker 1: the expected Collision show debuting as expected in June. We've
Speaker 1: got notes on the WWE World Have Youweight Championship Tournament
Speaker 1: that's going to be a whole show in and of itself.
Speaker 1: We've got more notes on Collision, what the plans are
Speaker 1: for that show. Dynamite on a Wednesday, down ten percent
Speaker 1: from last week. We'll give you all of the details
Speaker 1: on that and plenty more as well. Lots of news
Speaker 1: to get into today that should be exciting. We'll kick
Speaker 1: it off after the break Observer Live back in the
Speaker 1: show Bright Now Where is here Wrestling Observer Live except
Speaker 1: for bb also Wrestling Observer dot Com it's Friday on
Speaker 1: the show. Normally Friday is like whatever, but we got
Speaker 1: a lot to get into. Actually, plenty of news here today.
Speaker 1: First off, SmackDown is tonight. As everyone's well aware, Bad
Speaker 1: Bunny is going to appear on the show, Cody is
Speaker 1: going to appear on the show, shinz Ke Nakamura versus
Speaker 1: Kerry and Cross, and the OC will be taking on
Speaker 1: the Viking Raiders. This is all leading to the pay
Speaker 1: per view tomorrow where seven magnys are announced. We have Riddle,
Speaker 1: Kevin Owens, and Sammy versus Solo, Sokoa, Jay Uso and
Speaker 1: Jimmy Usso. And in theory, in theory, the Sammy Zay
Speaker 1: Kevin Owens versus the USO's story ends tomorrow because they
Speaker 1: are all going to different brands and allegedly that's it
Speaker 1: is that it well, of course not, but that's what
Speaker 1: they're claiming. So if they're going to have Solo turn
Speaker 1: on the USO's or whatever they're going to do, tomorrow's
Speaker 1: to day that in theory they have to do it.
Speaker 1: Cody Roads versus Brock, Rhea, Ripley versus Zelena Vega for
Speaker 1: the title. It's a championship match. And Puerto Rico with
Speaker 1: Zelena challenging for the belt seth Rawlins versus Omas, which
Speaker 1: it was like one of instances things that he has
Speaker 1: to do now that he's back is just make random
Speaker 1: Omas matches for every show because the guy's big. I
Speaker 1: have no idea why seth Wwlins is facing Omas. They've
Speaker 1: done virtually zilch to make In fact, I will say this,
Speaker 1: they've done zilch to make you care about it. They've
Speaker 1: done virtually zilch to build it up one way or
Speaker 1: the other.
Speaker 2: So who wait, wait, wait wait, they have a new
Speaker 2: title now, and I know that Vince loves making random
Speaker 2: Omas matches. I mean, who wouldn't bud? Could this be?
Speaker 2: Could this be because seth Rawlins needs to beat a
Speaker 2: giant on the way to winning the new World Heavyweight Chanceampionship.
Speaker 1: You know what's funny, Mike is that's not the worst idea,
Speaker 1: but I think it could be far worse, and that
Speaker 1: is that Omas beats seth Rawlins so that after seth
Speaker 1: Rawlins becomes the World Heavyweight Champion, they can feud throughout
Speaker 1: the summer. Because if there's anything these fans would want more,
Speaker 1: it is Omas. More Omas, including Championship.
Speaker 2: O mas Oh Moss, what what are you doing? What?
Speaker 1: Starting a new chimp stops immediately? Austin Theory, Bobby Lashley,
Speaker 1: Bronson Reid for Theories title, Bianca bell Air and Eo
Speaker 1: Sky for Byanca's title. I'm not even saying what title
Speaker 1: they are because it's like they have to swap them
Speaker 1: at some point, so who cares? And Bad Bunny will
Speaker 1: be taking on Damien Priest. The crowd is going to
Speaker 1: be nuclear. The building may melt. I can confirm the
Speaker 1: building might actually melt, even though it's made in part
Speaker 1: of stone, So be excited for that tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Buddy, do they still throw batteries and rocks and bags
Speaker 2: of urine? Because if they do in Puerto Rico, boy,
Speaker 2: is Dominic Mysterio going to have a long night, especially
Speaker 2: after he helps Rhea Ripley win her match and take
Speaker 2: home that title. It's going to be insane.
Speaker 1: The other big story, obviously, is all in the pre
Speaker 1: sale ended up with fifty thousand tickets sold and six
Speaker 1: point five million dollars at the gate. The other day
Speaker 1: they were at thirty five thousand, and we said, you know,
Speaker 1: if they don't sell one more ticket this show is
Speaker 1: still a big success at thirty five thousand, but they
Speaker 1: continue to sell another fifteen thousand tickets the next day,
Speaker 1: so they are now fifty six point five million. It
Speaker 1: is the most attended AW show of all time by multitudes.
Speaker 1: It is the biggest gate of all time, and the
Speaker 1: official on sale started today and it is at at
Speaker 1: least sixty thousand. Now sixty thousand tickets sold. I have
Speaker 1: heard rumors, rumors that it is at sixty five thousand,
Speaker 1: but I know that it is at least at sixty
Speaker 1: and it is May fifth, so we still have three
Speaker 1: and a half months left to sell tickets now. I
Speaker 1: do believe that the vast majority of tickets will be
Speaker 1: sold by the end of this weekend. Okay, but there's
Speaker 1: a lot of big things coming for AW, not the
Speaker 1: least of which is Collision, which is leave to be
Speaker 1: starting in mid June. That will be the new Saturday show,
Speaker 1: which we could talk more about. But it's looking like
Speaker 1: there's going to be two shows, Dynamite and Collision, that
Speaker 1: are considered to be the A shows, and we'll get
Speaker 1: into that more here in a while. But Rampage is
Speaker 1: gonna end up being what Darken elevation used to be.
Speaker 1: And you know, cmpunk is expected to be the face
Speaker 1: of collision, and so they will have two first run
Speaker 1: two hour shows weekly. This is starting in June. They
Speaker 1: will start building up matches for the Wembley Stadium show.
Speaker 1: And so I'll give you think that you know, they
Speaker 1: sell sixty eight thousand or whatever by the end of
Speaker 1: this weekend and they're gonna sell no more tickets. That's
Speaker 1: not gonna happen. So now we're looking at how how
Speaker 1: close are we to all time records for all companies
Speaker 1: and can they break the legitimate attendance record of WWE
Speaker 1: with this show? So we shall we shall find out
Speaker 1: over the next three months or so. But sixty thousand
Speaker 1: tickets and probably at this point eight million dollar gate
Speaker 1: I would think, maybe less because these these tickets being
Speaker 1: sold now are probably cheaper than the ones they sold originally,
Speaker 1: but probably seven and a half million dollar gate at
Speaker 1: this point. So there you go. Not bad for a
Speaker 1: T shirt company.
Speaker 2: That's a lot of people, you know, it's a lot
Speaker 2: sold already months away and not having any matches announced.
Speaker 2: So regardless of the you know, anything that takes place
Speaker 2: on the event at the gate, no one can deny
Speaker 2: that this was a massive success. Yes, it was a
Speaker 2: roll of the dice for them to go ahead and
Speaker 2: start out with Wembley as opposed to Craven Cottage or
Speaker 2: something like that. But it's a gamble that paid off,
Speaker 2: so huge success. Now you just have to follow it
Speaker 2: up with a great show so people remember it for
Speaker 2: actually being a huge, amazing event and not just you
Speaker 2: know the first time they were there and they sold
Speaker 2: a bunch of tickets.
Speaker 1: So tonight also is rampage and the Firm Deletion is tonight.
Speaker 1: After watching the UH segment on the farm, I have
Speaker 1: high hopes for the Firm Deletion. I presume it's already
Speaker 1: been taped and everything, because you know, we had spoilers
Speaker 1: for a rampage a couple of days ago, and no
Speaker 1: Firm Deletion was shown to the crowd. So we can
Speaker 1: all watch it coming up actually, like I think in
Speaker 1: a couple hours, because I think, what is it two thirty.
Speaker 2: Today or something like thirty Pacific? Yes, no staggered feed
Speaker 2: once again for those of you on the West coast.
Speaker 1: That's not a good time.
Speaker 2: No, hey, oh you know, let me just ask you
Speaker 2: something here. Three thirty and six thirty. You know, they
Speaker 2: don't have to have solosc A turn on the USO's
Speaker 2: with the way they've been telling these stories. The only
Speaker 2: thing they really need to do is probably obviously have
Speaker 2: the the good guys get the victory there and have
Speaker 2: some sort of miscommunication happen that can play into this
Speaker 2: whole very slow moving storyline, because if Sammy and Kevin
Speaker 2: are not going to be any part of this deal,
Speaker 2: this is going to be all about the USOS and
Speaker 2: Solo and Roman. That's the direction they've been going, So
Speaker 2: I don't think they have to make it so forceful
Speaker 2: and have Solo turn or Jay turn or something like that.
Speaker 2: They just need to have some sort of small miscommunication
Speaker 2: that this is off Roman.
Speaker 1: All right. When we come back, we got a lot
Speaker 1: more to talk about Vince McMahon lawsuit update. We have
Speaker 1: got this tournament, World Heavyweight Championship, tournament collision notes and
Speaker 1: the aw Dynamite ratings for Wednesday. So back in a
Speaker 1: moment with more Observer Live the show. Brian Albarez here
Speaker 1: Wrestling Observer Live. Mike sumbervb also Wrestling Observer dot Com. Hey,
Speaker 1: we're going to Vegas, Yes, double or nothing weekend. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be a lot of fun. You should go. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna tell you how. First, you can go to my
Speaker 1: Twitter at Brian Alvarez and there's a link up there.
Speaker 1: Come party with Dave and Brian with this view. There's
Speaker 1: a view from the Cosmopolitan.
Speaker 2: Is this how this was written?
Speaker 1: That's how I's written here on the front page. Yeah.
Speaker 1: You can go to FW online dot com slash Vegas
Speaker 1: and you can check out this convention. And we got
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff that we're gonna be doing. Saturday,
Speaker 1: meet and greet with Dave and I. Then there is
Speaker 1: a Q and A with Dave and I, followed by
Speaker 1: a professional wrestling show that ed in San Antonio's promoting,
Speaker 1: which I am not wrestling on.
Speaker 2: Do you understand Cinco?
Speaker 1: Yes, Sinco of them. And then we have the fur
Speaker 1: w Sweet Party on Saturday night. Listen here nine pm
Speaker 1: to two am. Tom's got a show that he's doing
Speaker 1: in Vegas. So you can actually go to the Sweet Party,
Speaker 1: go to the show, come back to the Sweet Party.
Speaker 1: You can do all of this.
Speaker 2: See if you can keep up with Filthy Tom.
Speaker 1: Yeah you can't. And then Sunday we have got the
Speaker 1: brunch at the Wicked Spoon in the morning, and then
Speaker 1: Double or Nothing is in the evening. And Friday, actually,
Speaker 1: we have got a dinner at Texas Day Brazil, which
Speaker 1: is a Brazilian steakhouse. All you can eat meat and
Speaker 1: salad bar, all of these things we're going to be uh,
Speaker 1: we're gonna be doing so if you would like to
Speaker 1: go at for w online dot com slash Vegas. We
Speaker 1: also have some ticket packages available, including a couple of
Speaker 1: ticket packages include a ticket to Double or Nothing. You
Speaker 1: can get the double or Nothing ticket, the meet and greet,
Speaker 1: the Q and A and the wrestling show. All of
Speaker 1: that is available as a package, the meet and Greet,
Speaker 1: Q and A and the wrestling show without the Double
Speaker 1: or Nothing ticket, the Q and A and the wrestling
Speaker 1: show alone. The wrestling show we've got which by the way,
Speaker 1: if you get a ticket to the Q and A,
Speaker 1: you can go to D's show free. What about that
Speaker 1: Texas Day Brazil dinner if you want to have dinner
Speaker 1: with us at the Brazilian steakhouse. Tickets to the Sweet
Speaker 1: Party where we're gonna have boatloads of pizza and liquor. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's only forty nine to ninety nine to go have
Speaker 1: pizza and liquor and hang out with everybody at the
Speaker 1: Cosmo and then the brunch at the Wicked Spoon. So
Speaker 1: if you want to go and have some fun. Man,
Speaker 1: every time we've done one of these, it's been fun.
Speaker 1: So if you want to do it forw online dot
Speaker 1: Com Slash Vegas, all of the ticket packages are available,
Speaker 1: and I think we actually have two seats where you
Speaker 1: can sit in the suite with Dave and watch him
Speaker 1: as he watches Double or Nothing and takes all of
Speaker 1: his notes. That's like a once in a lifetime opportunity
Speaker 1: right now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's nice and everything, But what if I want
Speaker 2: to sit in the vicinity of Vinnie? How do I
Speaker 2: do that? Well?
Speaker 1: I don't know what you can do about that, Are
Speaker 1: you sure? I think I think he's actually in the
Speaker 1: section that we have tickets for.
Speaker 2: So are there any rules against talking to Vinnie? Like
Speaker 2: I don't want to hear anything about the NFL Draft
Speaker 2: right now, I'm not doing that.
Speaker 1: I don't think there's rules like that now.
Speaker 2: Okay, especially if you have liquored up enough with the
Speaker 2: pizza going on at the Sweet.
Speaker 1: Party following a Vince mc man payment to WA. A
Speaker 1: consolidated lawsuit filed in Delaware by shareholders against the company's
Speaker 1: executive chairman was dropped on Wednesday. The reason the suit
Speaker 1: was dropped was due to McMahon repaying seventeen point four
Speaker 1: million in late March for expenses related to the investigation
Speaker 1: surrounding hush money allegations that came to light last summer.
Speaker 2: As a result reason.
Speaker 1: The initial reason for the lawsuit was considered moot. That's
Speaker 1: a real word. Everybody moot.
Speaker 2: So the point is moot.
Speaker 1: It's ridiculous, but it's a real word. Seventeen point four
Speaker 1: million covers the costs of the investigation, but not the
Speaker 1: near twenty million that Bent allegedly paid multiple accusers of
Speaker 1: sexual misconduct. McMahon resigned from WWE last summer under the
Speaker 1: pretense of retirement.
Speaker 2: A new stock is looking good for some people, I think, so.
Speaker 1: The seventeen point four is the cost of that investigation. Dude,
Speaker 1: I need to become an investigator seventeen point four million
Speaker 1: dollars to conduct an investigation.
Speaker 2: Look at how these things work, These auditing companies that
Speaker 2: come in once something happens, like you know the company
Speaker 2: that had to go you know, check on Enron and
Speaker 2: all that sort of stuff. Yeah, there's there's money to
Speaker 2: be made where there's money being made.
Speaker 1: So now I said the word moot was funny. An
Speaker 1: interesting note from the Bloomberg pe stated lawyers for the
Speaker 1: Consolidated Shareholder Group now want a mootiness fee, a mootness spee,
Speaker 1: a mootinus fee. Council for the WE investors indicated the
Speaker 1: plan to seek a mootinus fee as a reward for
Speaker 1: their role in forcing him to pay the money.
Speaker 2: He owed it will be a mountainous journey to get
Speaker 2: to that moutinous fee.
Speaker 1: That's gonna be another multiple million dollars. So yeah, he uh,
Speaker 1: he paid his money and now the thing has been
Speaker 1: dropped in mm hmm. It's amazing when you have money
Speaker 1: can get away with.
Speaker 2: Can you believe it?
Speaker 1: Wow?
Speaker 2: God bless America. You may even make it to the
Speaker 2: Supreme Court one day.
Speaker 1: First of notes, I can't even find my YouTube plaque. Well,
Speaker 1: if I had seventeen point four million to find it,
Speaker 1: i'd have it this afternoon.
Speaker 2: I think we know where the plaque is. It's just
Speaker 2: a matter of where the whale is.
Speaker 1: No, we don't know where the plaque is well, we
Speaker 1: know the plaque is with the whale, but I don't
Speaker 1: know where the whale's at. I don't know where this
Speaker 1: guy can turn.
Speaker 2: That's something maybe Wales Scott I'll look into, is maybe
Speaker 2: like tagging you know, Oreo, and then you'll actually know
Speaker 2: with some GPS where exactly he's floating around in the world.
Speaker 1: WWE revealed more information on how its new World Heavyweight
Speaker 1: Champion will be decided at WWE's pre Backlash press conference.
Speaker 1: Tripleh announced that the World Heavyweight Championship tournament will begin
Speaker 1: on Raw this coming Monday. Okay. Thee World Heavyweight Championship
Speaker 1: will be the Raw Exclusive Championship. Therefore, it is starting
Speaker 1: on Raw Monday, okay. There will be two triple threat
Speaker 1: matches on the episode. The winners will then face off
Speaker 1: against each other later that night to decide who will
Speaker 1: advance Tonight of champions I'm already confused. Two triple thread matches,
Speaker 1: hold on, hold on, it gets better. Two triple Thread
Speaker 1: matches will also take place on SmackDown next Friday. Those
Speaker 1: winners face each other in the main event of that episode.
Speaker 1: The winner from SmackDown will face the winner from Raw
Speaker 1: to determine the inaugural World Heavyweight Champion of Raw, which
Speaker 1: means the finals of the Raw tournament after this draft
Speaker 1: will be somebody from SmackDown facing somebody from Raw. Okay,
Speaker 1: which means theoretically, okay, that if the SmackDown person wins
Speaker 1: the Raw title, well, I would presume that person is
Speaker 1: now a Raw talent, which of course bikes a question
Speaker 1: like if this were real, Okay, if this was a
Speaker 1: real thing, why would you, as a SmackDown GM allow
Speaker 1: anyone to compete in this tournament knowing that if they
Speaker 1: do well, you lose them. Well, you wouldn't because that
Speaker 1: would be stupid, because this whole thing is stupid, Because
Speaker 1: this whole thing is stupid. Because last week on SmackDown
Speaker 1: they said they actually said SmackDown and Raw wrestlers will
Speaker 1: be eligible for the title that will only be on Raw.
Speaker 1: Then on Monday, Paul Hayman came out and said, you know,
Speaker 1: Roman Reigns would really like that belt, but he can't
Speaker 1: compete for it because he's not on Raw, which led
Speaker 1: to me thinking, wait a second, didn't you now they're
Speaker 1: saying that, in fact, in fact, SmackDown wrestlers can compete
Speaker 1: for the raw title. But you see this all ties
Speaker 1: into what I was talking about yesterday. You want to
Speaker 1: know why Roman Reigns can't compete for the title. Why
Speaker 1: because he ain't around to be in the tournament. Because
Speaker 1: it seems to me that as the champion, as the
Speaker 1: crown Jewels, so to speak, the focal point of SmackDown,
Speaker 1: he should be able to be in that triple thread
Speaker 1: match to determine who is going to the Night of Champions.
Speaker 1: But he's not because it's stupid. You notice, I don't
Speaker 1: know if you guys have noticed this or not, by
Speaker 1: this show was really stupid until about July when Vince
Speaker 1: stepped down, and then from July all the way through
Speaker 1: almost WrestleMania. Like, you may not have liked the show,
Speaker 1: you may have had a criticism about this or that,
Speaker 1: but you know what it was, it wasn't stupid like
Speaker 1: it used to be. Well, now he's back because as
Speaker 1: he paid off a bunch of people for things that
Speaker 1: he had done that were wrong, he used all of
Speaker 1: his money and now he's back, and you know what,
Speaker 1: things are stupid again. Seems to me there's a correlation
Speaker 1: here between you know, Vince being around and things being stupid.
Speaker 1: So I'm I think this whole thing is stupid. I
Speaker 1: don't know why we got SmackDown wrestlers wrestling for a
Speaker 1: raw title. It doesn't make any sense, makes no sense whatsoever.
Speaker 1: And yeah, so anyway, great.
Speaker 2: Slowdy money baby. That's why you need to have all
Speaker 2: your stars that you can compete for. And so who
Speaker 2: is going to be that person from SmackDown who ends
Speaker 2: up coming out the victor and all that sort of
Speaker 2: stuff that can show their wares against either I guess
Speaker 2: Cody Rhodes or seth Rawlins. I mean, who else is
Speaker 2: it going to be? Right now?
Speaker 1: Omas DJ says to Beltles Commission prior to Vince's return.
Speaker 1: Hey listen, okay, listen, here's a great example of what
Speaker 1: I'm talking about. Okay, if you want to argue that
Speaker 1: you don't like the idea that the Universal Champion is
Speaker 1: going to one brand and we're making a brand new
Speaker 1: belt for the other brand, Okay, if you don't like
Speaker 1: that idea, that's one thing, okay, but it is not
Speaker 1: what you could say. It's like a stupid idea, all right.
Speaker 1: The way that they the way that they explained it,
Speaker 1: the way the Triple H did his speech that was stupid.
Speaker 1: But the idea that there's one, you know, we got
Speaker 1: belt for this brand belt, that's not a stupid idea.
Speaker 1: A brand split is not a stupid idea. Okay. What
Speaker 1: is stupid is the execution and all of the execution
Speaker 1: of these ideas since Vince came back has been stupid.
Speaker 1: That's the problem.
Speaker 2: That's a great point, Brian. But since Vince's back now
Speaker 2: everything's moot.
Speaker 1: I want to moot in his fee for having to
Speaker 1: watch these shows and try to explain everything to you
Speaker 1: guys back in a moment Observer Live.
Speaker 2: All right, A.
Speaker 1: Couple of things right here, So I'm looking at the
Speaker 1: ticket maps and that sort of thing on wrestle Tics,
Speaker 1: and we'll have a good number. We'll have a good
Speaker 1: number here, probably pretty soon. But according to wrestle Tics,
Speaker 1: it appears that the number as of right now could
Speaker 1: be and I quote, well above sixty thousand. So earlier
Speaker 1: in the show, I said that the rumor number was
Speaker 1: the rumor number was sixty five, and knew it was
Speaker 1: over sixty. But we may be nearing sixty five seventy
Speaker 1: at this point for this show.
Speaker 2: So Tony needs to get into the work in numbers game,
Speaker 2: so when this thing finally happens, you can announce like
Speaker 2: one hundred and eleven thousand people to whatever, like over
Speaker 2: the capacity is for Wembley. It should be one more
Speaker 2: person than that. You know, everybody that's there, the parking attendants, everything,
Speaker 2: it's going to be absolutely ridiculous. It'll be interesting to
Speaker 2: see how much they actually set up and what the
Speaker 2: stage and all that is going to be too, because
Speaker 2: you know that's gonna be pretty elaborate.
Speaker 1: All right, Collision. I gotta talk about Collision here as
Speaker 1: the date for the yet to be announced aw Collision
Speaker 1: looms near or details being discussed as it relates to
Speaker 1: cmpunk's return of the company that discussed roster split between
Speaker 1: Dynamite and the Saturday show creenty A Dave and the
Speaker 1: new Observer, which you can grab as a subscriber to
Speaker 1: Wrestling observer dot com. You get all of the bits
Speaker 1: and pieces on the front page and around the internet,
Speaker 1: but you don't get the entire forty thousand words every
Speaker 1: week they're in the Observer everything you ever wanted to
Speaker 1: know about what happened the prior week in professional wrestling.
Speaker 1: So check out Wrestlingobserver dot com. Sign up and read
Speaker 1: the whole issue yourself, because, as was the case with
Speaker 1: at least one today, what ended up on the internet
Speaker 1: was not exactly what Dave wrote, so if he only
Speaker 1: looked at that, you didn't get the whole story anyway.
Speaker 1: The updated plan is for quote less than a hard
Speaker 1: roster split between the two shows, and that Punk will
Speaker 1: appear on Dynamite when needed. However, quote those with unresolved
Speaker 1: issues with Punk would be on Collision the week that
Speaker 1: he's on Dynamite. He also wrote the quote The idea
Speaker 1: is to get people to resolve issues, but that has
Speaker 1: not happened yet, nor has there been any notable progress.
Speaker 1: When it comes to the female talent. The thought is
Speaker 1: the split will not be hard at all with the women,
Speaker 1: as they don't believe there is enough star power to
Speaker 1: do a hard brand split. None of the details above
Speaker 1: our final They discussed new two hour shows expected to
Speaker 1: air on T and T on Saturdays from eight to ten,
Speaker 1: kicking off at a yet to be announced late June
Speaker 1: United Center event that would feature Punk's first aw appearance
Speaker 1: since last September.
Speaker 2: All out, Are they gonna start holding these things at
Speaker 2: like Cyo halls in like bingo halls and teamsters halls
Speaker 2: or something like. You can't keep like two factions away
Speaker 2: from each other. And I know, look, you have to
Speaker 2: be there at a certain time. There's a lot. There
Speaker 2: has got to be some sort of way where you
Speaker 2: can keep if you need star power on a show
Speaker 2: where you're bringing CM punk on and you want, like
Speaker 2: I just it's this is we'll see how it goes,
Speaker 2: how this whole thing goes. But that's crazy where it's
Speaker 2: just gonna be We're not gonna resolve it, because that
Speaker 2: sounds like to me is we're not going to resolve this.
Speaker 2: We have no plans to resolve it. Whether we're trying
Speaker 2: or not at this point, I don't know. But like,
Speaker 2: if you're going to switch people that way, it's like, again,
Speaker 2: is this the right idea? Well, this is the right move. Hey.
Speaker 1: I hesitate to say anything because I don't want people
Speaker 1: reporting what I'm saying here is like a fact because
Speaker 1: I have no idea. But I mean, is it possible
Speaker 1: because you know, all the way back to the whole thing,
Speaker 1: we've had this problem over and over and over again
Speaker 1: where people want Tony and everybody else to talk about
Speaker 1: this and he's never gonna say anything about it. I've
Speaker 1: said it a thousand times. He's never gonna say anything
Speaker 1: about it, Okay, And it's not just because he's trying
Speaker 1: to be difficult or making people upset, But it seems
Speaker 1: pretty clear to me that legally he is not allowed
Speaker 1: to say anything about it. Okay. Yes, Is it possible
Speaker 1: that legally CM punk and the elite can't be in
Speaker 1: the building together. Is that possible? I don't know. I
Speaker 1: don't want people to report that that's what happened.
Speaker 2: That's not possible then, because then you've got a real
Speaker 2: big problem at Wembley, because.
Speaker 1: Well that's what I was about to get to forget Wembley. Okay,
Speaker 1: all pay per views going forward? All right, do you
Speaker 1: remember what w W used to do. They really were
Speaker 1: trying to do this stupid brand split. It was to
Speaker 1: the point where they had ron SmackDown pay per views
Speaker 1: and then eventually, you know, they were trying to do
Speaker 1: two pay per views a month. What a miserable time
Speaker 1: in my life that was, by the way. Yeah, So
Speaker 1: eventually they just brought it down to single pay per
Speaker 1: views and then you know, the rob he will face
Speaker 1: a rob people to smack dame blah blah blah blah blah.
Speaker 1: So okay, CM punk is largely going to be on Saturday.
Speaker 1: If he's needed on Wednesday, he'll be Wednesday. But when
Speaker 1: he's on Wednesday, the elite apparently will not be on Wednesday.
Speaker 1: They'll be on Saturday. They will never be in the
Speaker 1: same place at the same time. As what this says
Speaker 1: to me, So now what happens for the pay per
Speaker 1: view is CM punk gonna alternate pay per views with
Speaker 1: the elite?
Speaker 2: Why can't somebody just stay on the damn bus? Why
Speaker 2: can't If that's the issue, then you have enough money.
Speaker 2: It's not like some of these folks don't have buses.
Speaker 2: I mean, there's got to be a better way than
Speaker 2: where okay, this whole click while CM Punk's segments are
Speaker 2: going on, or while you need him for pre tape
Speaker 2: or whatever. It seems like that would be an easier
Speaker 2: thing to just call them al walkies and go, okay,
Speaker 2: make sure they're out of here because we're coming into
Speaker 2: this as opposed to I don't know, that seems like
Speaker 2: it would make more sense than if you're gonna if
Speaker 2: you can't get along, you gotta be grown ups about
Speaker 2: this because we have to do this because this is
Speaker 2: what WBD wants or whatever it is, if this is
Speaker 2: what Tony wants, whatever it is. If it's going to
Speaker 2: be this way, we actually have to have some professional
Speaker 2: parameters going on. So we can't have people in the
Speaker 2: same building at the same time without having to bring
Speaker 2: in national security because we think something is going to
Speaker 2: pop off, and if that's going to be the case,
Speaker 2: then WBD needs to come off some money. If they're
Speaker 2: the ones who are helping to push this, then you
Speaker 2: bring the security in, and you bring people in to
Speaker 2: make sure that they're separated, or buy them the buses
Speaker 2: to keep them apart. It's insane.
Speaker 1: This is so ridiculous, the buzz around what Collision will
Speaker 1: end up being. They provide an interesting details to the
Speaker 1: future direction of Rampage. You know that Rampage will quote
Speaker 1: turn into what Dark and Dark Elevation were more to
Speaker 1: showcase younger talent. Last week, he reported Rampage would remain
Speaker 1: on TNT on Fridays in an hour long format, even
Speaker 1: after the expected launch of the new Saturday show on
Speaker 1: TNT in June. Direction is notable as both Dark and
Speaker 1: Dark Elevation quietly wrapped up their runs on YouTube last
Speaker 1: month due to an exclusivity clause signed with Warner Brothers, which,
Speaker 1: by the way, sounds like they have negotiated a new deal.
Speaker 1: And we don't seem to have any details of this deal.
Speaker 1: But I mean, if we've got a if we have
Speaker 1: got a new show coming and now we have an
Speaker 1: exclusivity clause where they can no longer put these shows
Speaker 1: on YouTube, it sounds to me like they came to
Speaker 1: a new agreement. And I don't know what the deal
Speaker 1: would be, what the deal would be worth, et cetera,
Speaker 1: but just.
Speaker 2: Be an amended agreement now with this going on, you
Speaker 2: know and taking place that Okay, we're relaunching WBD, you
Speaker 2: know where we're really launching Max and all that sort
Speaker 2: of stuff. So it's not it may not necessarily be
Speaker 2: a new deal, just maybe be an amendment onto what
Speaker 2: they have.
Speaker 1: Well, they're adding a new show for two hours on
Speaker 1: Saturday night, so I think that's a.
Speaker 2: Deal. Yes.
Speaker 1: Meltzer noted the planet is for Dynamite and Rampage or
Speaker 1: tape together on Wednesdays, as has been the norm with
Speaker 1: Collision and Ring of Honor taping together on Saturdays. Rhas
Speaker 1: On Honor Club is not part of the exclusivity clause
Speaker 1: for now. Quite frankly, dude, they don't need Dark in Elevation. Okay, Like,
Speaker 1: here's the thing. I know a lot of people like
Speaker 1: Dark in Elevation and I didn't. I didn't watch it.
Speaker 1: But the fact of the matter is, what was the
Speaker 1: idea behind Dark in Elevation. It was it was to
Speaker 1: get people reps. Because we use that word all the time.
Speaker 1: People need to get reps. But you know what, it's
Speaker 1: now been years and you know a lot of these
Speaker 1: people that needed reps. They're better, but they're not, like
Speaker 1: miles better because at the end of the day, what
Speaker 1: were they getting reps doing. We're getting reps doing squashes.
Speaker 1: They were getting reps doing three minute matches. They were
Speaker 1: getting reps going in there and doing their their big
Speaker 1: spots and whatever. That's not what we're looking for here.
Speaker 1: We're looking for you got to get out there and
Speaker 1: you need to do. Here's the thing with the reps,
Speaker 1: it asks me all sorts of different things. That's why
Speaker 1: the best way to get reps is to you know,
Speaker 1: in the old days, you would just go territory, territory territory,
Speaker 1: territory nowadays, a lot of guys just like, oh, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm not signing anywhere. I'll do New Japan, I'll do
Speaker 1: I'll do this Indy, that Indy, this Indye, that Indy.
Speaker 1: Nick Wayne's a great example. Nick Wayne works everywhere from
Speaker 1: DeFi to GCW to you know, he's going to you know,
Speaker 1: the UK everywhere. All right, So what getting reps is
Speaker 1: is you're having long matches with different people in front
Speaker 1: of different crowds, doing different things. You're you're dealing with
Speaker 1: everything you'd ever have to deal with in wrestling, doing
Speaker 1: it right, that's getting reps. Otherwise, you know, if it's
Speaker 1: just going in there and doing it too more squash match,
Speaker 1: it's essentially aside from a crowd that's just kind of
Speaker 1: sitting there. It's the same as just you know, go
Speaker 1: do practice matches you know wherever it qt is, school
Speaker 1: or whatever. I mean. That's so my point is we
Speaker 1: don't need dark in elevation. It's too much to do.
Speaker 1: It's it's like, let's just do our main shows and
Speaker 1: for some people let them go out and work, let
Speaker 1: them go out and do some stuff. But that's not like.
Speaker 2: Not like there weren't good things on there, you know,
Speaker 2: as far as if you're a fan of the independent
Speaker 2: scene to see some people get some shine on those
Speaker 2: shows and get the graphics and all that stuff. I
Speaker 2: mean it really, it was a it was a nice thing. Again,
Speaker 2: there was so much going on. I've rarely had a
Speaker 2: chance to watch it. I would end up seeing more
Speaker 2: of an on bachmania because of ex Caliber and Taz
Speaker 2: going back and forth and them using a lot of
Speaker 2: that stuff. But you know, this is just the evolution
Speaker 2: of things right now, and they have again, they're going
Speaker 2: on five hours of TV, they're going to have on
Speaker 2: National Tea. They got to worry more about their the
Speaker 2: people that they do have right now and figuring out
Speaker 2: how to layer again, how to layer a mid card
Speaker 2: and a lower mid card and all of that sort
Speaker 2: of stuff, because that's something they haven't mastered yet.
Speaker 1: Wednesday's Dynamite seven hundred and seventy six thousand viewers down
Speaker 1: ten percent, lowest audience since October eighteen, which was a
Speaker 1: Saturday airing for a Wednesday episode. It is the lowest
Speaker 1: viewership in almost a year. June fifteen, twenty twenty two,
Speaker 1: eighteen to forty nine eighth on Cable point two eight,
Speaker 1: which actually as far as eighteen and forty nine. Say
Speaker 1: it's done for the past four weeks, Ty's Dynamite's fifth
Speaker 1: lowest rating of the year. Programming later that related to
Speaker 1: the NBA and NHL playoffs took five of these seven
Speaker 1: spot top spots on cable. Vander Pump Rules and Watch
Speaker 1: what Happens Live on BRA. That's a new one. Watch
Speaker 1: what Happens Live.
Speaker 2: I've bet they've had that before. I think didn't. He
Speaker 2: used to be that was the post show for all
Speaker 2: those reality shows. At a post show?
Speaker 1: Is that what that is? Everybody's what's Watch what Happened Live?
Speaker 1: It's funny to even say it. It doesn't really roll
Speaker 1: off the tongue. Watch what Happens Live?
Speaker 2: Thinking one of those shows, I don't know.
Speaker 1: That was the post show.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, we should have a post show to this show.
Speaker 2: Dagan can do it.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say go for it. I'm out. Dynamite's
Speaker 1: ratings were even or down in most categories. Yeah, that'd
Speaker 1: be a great idea. You know it'd be fun is
Speaker 1: just when the show is over, just solely take feedback
Speaker 1: from the YouTube chat and uh, the in the Twitch show.
Speaker 1: It worked for Harvard Man. Yeah you know who's not
Speaker 1: on his post show him. As compared to the same
Speaker 1: week in twenty twenty two, Dynamite down six point eight
Speaker 1: percent in total viewers to one point five percent in
Speaker 1: eighteen to forty nine. So uh yeah, there you go. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's Friday. What do you want? And Nu Japan Resurgence
Speaker 1: May twenty first on New Japan World, We've got the
Speaker 1: new Japan Strong Women's Title tournament. Fives talk about introducing
Speaker 1: a bunch of belts. How many women are on Strong.
Speaker 1: I've watched every single solitary Strong ever and I think
Speaker 1: the only women's match I ever saw was the one
Speaker 1: for the IWGP Women's title. Well, now we have a
Speaker 1: Strong women's championship.
Speaker 2: So we cannot have stardom. Women come over here and
Speaker 2: Russell for it.
Speaker 1: Tanashi and Osprey for the number one contendership to Kenny
Speaker 1: Omega's title, John Moxley, Wheeler, Yuda and Shooter Umino. We
Speaker 1: facing Okada, Ish and Rocky Romero. Well, hiccolayovers is Kent
Speaker 1: for this Strong title, Fred Rosser, Juice Robinson, a Street Fight,
Speaker 1: Willow Nightingale and Momokogo for the new Japan Strong Women's title.
Speaker 1: It's a first round match, and Mercedes and Stephanie Bacaier
Speaker 1: for the other first round match.
Speaker 2: Bring me Yoda Suji please.
Speaker 1: Back in a moment. It was her life in the show.
Speaker 1: Brian Albarez here Wrestling Observer Live, Mikecember BB also Wrestling
Speaker 1: Observer dot com. If you go to my Twitter at
Speaker 1: Brian Albarez, Dean reuss Mussen has passed away and there's
Speaker 1: a GoFundMe up there. You can still help his family
Speaker 1: loss of medical bills. And if you've ever seen, and
Speaker 1: people have asked a thousand times over the years, what
Speaker 1: is that thing you've got in the logo? You mean
Speaker 1: the Tilda bang Well, I blatantly stole it from Dean.
Speaker 1: He used to do. He used to do reports on
Speaker 1: RSPW and Death Valley Driver back in the day, and
Speaker 1: these were the best reviews of anything that you ever imaginable.
Speaker 1: They were the absolute greatest, and apparently he would type
Speaker 1: them and one day he was trying to hit that
Speaker 1: exclamation point if I recall correctly, but right next to
Speaker 1: it on the keyboard is the teal Day. So he
Speaker 1: accidentally hid the Teal day before and I guess he
Speaker 1: just thought, eh, that's pretty cool. That's even more explanation whatever.
Speaker 1: So anyway, he kept it and it made all the
Speaker 1: reports a thousand times better express yep. And then I
Speaker 1: stole it from him, and man, did I ever love
Speaker 1: reading those old A lot of it was Japanese pro wrestling,
Speaker 1: but he was the greatest. So anyway, very sad to
Speaker 1: hear of his passing. And if you have a few dollars,
Speaker 1: you can head up there to the GoFundMe and toss
Speaker 1: a few dollars in and help his family in this
Speaker 1: time of need. So rest in peace to Dean at
Speaker 1: all time great of pro wrestling recaps, I thought. So anyway,
Speaker 1: we're out of time, everybody. I want to thank y'all
Speaker 1: for listening here today. Back tomorrow we'll be up after
Speaker 1: the Puerto Rico show myself and Dave Vinne and I
Speaker 1: Sunday will be the recap with Craig Jim Valley Lock
Speaker 1: coming up this weekend, Jim Vally tomorrow as well, of course,
Speaker 1: and uh Andrew on Sunday. And that's it. Thanks Michaus.
Speaker 1: Always callers and listening to this studio. We'll talk to
Speaker 1: you next time. Wrestling Observer Live. You have been listening
Speaker 1: to the Wrestling Observer Daily podcast on the Eight Side
Speaker 1: Network